Bill Cosby accused of sexual assault at Playboy Mansion, suit says

A Riverside County woman filed a lawsuit Tuesday against beleaguered comedian Bill Cosby, alleging he sexually assaulted her at the Playboy Mansion in 1974, when she was 15 years old.

In the lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court, Judy Huth said she and a 16-year-old friend met the comedian that year at a San Marino park. The alleged assault occurred later, after Huth said Cosby gave her alcohol to drink and led her to the mansion.

Advertisement

The lawsuit is the latest in a series of sexual assault accusations against Cosby, 77. Two of his television projects have been halted, many on-stage appearances canceled and reruns of his much-revered "The Cosby Show" yanked from the air.

In Tuesday's case, Huth alleges she suffered "psychological injuries and illnesses" that she only connected to the assault within the last three years. The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages for sexual battery and emotional distress.

Attorneys for Huth and Cosby did not respond to calls seeking comment.

Cosby has generally declined to discuss recent allegations. In a statement last week, his attorney, Martin D. Singer, described them as "unsubstantiated, fantastical stories" and said lawsuits "are filed against people in the public eye every day."

“There has never been a shortage of lawyers willing to represent people with claims against rich, powerful men, so it makes no sense that not one of these new women who just came forward for the first time now ever asserted a legal claim back at the time they allege they had been sexually assaulted.”

Huth said she and a friend were in Lacy Park when they wandered over to a movie set where Cosby was working, the lawsuit said. He approached the teenagers, invited them to sit in his director's chair and asked how old they were, the lawsuit said.

Cosby invited the girls to his L.A. County tennis club the following Saturday, the lawsuit alleges. They met him there, then followed him to a house where he "served them alcohol beverages and played games of billiards" with Huth, according to the lawsuit.

Huth was required to drink a beer every time Cosby won a game, the lawsuit said.

Later, the girls followed Cosby to the Playboy Mansion, where the comedian told Huth and her friend to say they were 19 if anyone asked their ages, the lawsuit said.

At one point, Huth used a bathroom and emerged to find Cosby sitting on a bed, the lawsuit alleges.

The comedian asked the 15-year-old to sit down on the bed beside him and attempted to "put his hand down her pants," according to the lawsuit. He then took her hand in his and performed a sexual act on himself "without her consent," the lawsuit said.

"This traumatic incident, at such a tender age, has caused psychological damage and mental anguish ... that has caused her significant problems through her life," the lawsuit said.

Under California law, people accused of the most serious sexual assaults involving minor victims can be charged criminally only if the crimes occurred in 1988 or later.